Menu

Month: March 2017

Sydney Ice Dogs
– The Ice Dogs have announced the signing of forward Billy Cliff for the 2017 season. Cliff spent the 2016 season playing for the Sydney Bears where he recorded 13 points in 24 games. Cliff previously played for the Ice Dogs from 2008 to 2014 and took a year out from hockey in the 2015 season. For more information see the announcement from the club.

The Adelaide Generals have won the 2016-17 Australian Junior Ice Hockey League playoffs, defeating the Perth Sharks 5-3 in the final. The Generals also took out the regular season title after finishing in first place, two points ahead of the Brisbane Blitz. After the completion of the final round of regular season games the top four teams advanced to the playoffs with the first placed Generals drawn against the fourth placed Sabres and the second placed Blitz drawn against the third placed Sharks. The Generals won their semifinal match shutting out the Sabres 5-0 and advanced to the final against the Sharks who had defeated the Blitz 5-2. The Generals went on to win the final while the Sabres defeated the Blitz 6-3 to take the bronze medal. The regular season and playoff titles are the first for the Generals who joined the league this season after playing in the Tier 2 competition in 2015-16.

Melbourne Ice & Melbourne Mustangs
– The Ice and Mustangs will face-off against each other in an exhibition match on 13 April at the O’Brien Group Arena. In last years exhibition game between the two teams the Ice defeated the Mustangs 5-1.

The Melbourne Mustangs defeated the New Zealand national team 5-4 yesterday at the O’Brien Group Arena. The game was the third of four exhibition games that New Zealand are competing in as part of their training camp for the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division II Group B tournament which is set to begin in Auckland on 4 April. The remaining game will see New Zealand face-off against the Melbourne Ice again on 30 March.

The Australian women’s team have defeated the All Sapporo Ice Hockey Series team 4-1 in an exhibition game yesterday in Japan. The team had a two goal lead at the end of the first and increased it to three during the second period. Both teams recorded a goal each in the third period with the game finishing 4-1. The Australian’s are currently in Japan on a training camp before the start of the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship Division II Group A tournament in Gangneung, South Korea which begins on 2 April. The two teams will face-off again today at 21:30.

Melbourne Mustangs
– The Mustangs have announced the signing of Finnish forward Anton Kokkonen for the 2017 season. Kokkonen previously played in the AIHL for the CBR Brave in 2014 where he recorded 60 points in 26 games. Kokkonen has spent the 2016-17 playing for TuKV of the III-divisioona after playing in the Mestis and Suomi-sarja in the two seasons prior. For more information see the announcement from the club.

The Sydney Bears have announced that it unlikely that the Wilson Cup tournament will be held in 2017 citing a high workload in relation to their move to the Macquarie Ice Rink. The Wilson Cup was founded in 2007 as a pre-season tournament for the New South Wales based AIHL clubs. The tournament has been held on six occasions, from 2007 to 2009 and 2014 to 2016. The Bears won the 2016 edition, defeating the Sydney Ice Dogs 3-1 in the final.